I thought about this for a moment."Mount Vernon?"

"Yes."

"How can that be related to..." My statement drifted off when I saw the look on Ben's face,

telling me not to make him explain any of this.

"Honestly, this was confusing to figure it. And no I don't know how this is related to Cairo,

but I'm suspecting its got to do something with the Templars' treasure."

"Oh." I said blankly. This was slightly confusing, even for me, who is supposed to know all

about history. But hey. Ben didn't explain it well and, he didn't get it either. So, how was

I supposed to get all this?

"Now if you'll excuse, I've got to get some rest before tomorrow." Ben turned towards the

house and started walking when I stopped him. "Wait! You might not want to go in there."

He faced me. "Why...?"

"Ummm...well...let's just say...it's not the freshest place to be right now. If you really want

to go in, I recommend you holding your breathe."

He stared at me with one of his weird looks and then replied, "...Okay." There was a

slight pause before he broke it.

"Abigail, do I really want to know what happened while we were gone?"

"No." I looked at him, making a serious look. Odd for something in a situation like this.

"You don't want to know. But you will. Trust me."

"Oh, don't worry. I trust you well enough." We continued to the front door, preparing

ourselves for the smell that would choke us to death.

--------------------------------------------------

"So, let me get this straight. You and Sadusky figured out that the clue in Cairo refers

to... Mount Vernon?"

"Yeah."

"And we're all going tomorrow over there to figure the next clue out?" The sound of Riley's

voice from my room sounded like he was a bit confused with this. But it was actually not

that at all.

"Yeah. It's actually really not a hard concept to get, Riley."

"For you, it might not. But when you starting explaining the clue in Cairo, you made my

mind spin and go off into another galaxy."

"When you say another galaxy, do you mean on how to beat your video games?"

"...Maybe," Riley answered sheepishly. "Is there a problem with that?"

Ben chuckled. "No, Riley. There isn't."

"Good. Now can I get some sleep before you wake me up at the crack of dawn tomorrow?"

"Sure," Ben said with a small laugh. "You're going to need it."

I could see Ben and Riley walk into the hallway as Riley said, "Ah, man! I hate when you say that! That means I'm going to despise what's comin up for me."

"Yes, I know you hate that. But its so if Ian has already figured out Mount Vernon, that we get

there first."

"I know. I know. I know Ian's out to get us. You don't have to tell me all of misery that's

going to come to us."

"Well...maybe I will."

"Ben!"

"Good night, Riley," Ben told him, trying to hold back his laughter.

I could tell by Riley's look that he was trying to be serious, but Ben was trying to have

a little fun. Riley turned towards the direction of his room and walked in that direction.

Ben, though, walked into my room.

I quickly looked up from the never ending novel I was reading. "So I guess you've tortured

Riley to death already."

"Apparently, yes I have," Ben said, letting a smile show across his face. "And I kinda like

it actually. But tomorrow...tomorrow will be..."

"Even more torture and even more hectic?"

"Yeah. More of that definitely."

I put my book on the night-table beside my bed. "Well, I better get some sleep. Good night,

Ben." I started to lay down when...another unpleasant, bad feeling came to my stomach. This

time it was just only to my stomach, thank goodness, compared to last time. But still, it was

telling me just as well that something unfortunate and unpredictable was going to occur.

And soon.

As I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the urging pain, I could feel Ben kiss me gently

on the forehead. "Good night." Suddenly, I felt a ring of security over me, making me

feel more secure about the whole situation.

But even with that soothing me, the warning signal kept going and going.

------------------------------------------------

"Ben, I know you want to get to Mount Vernon early, but why this early?" Riley groggily

said as he slowly got into the backseat.

"To avoid the traffic," I responded, getting into the passenger's seat.

"WHAT traffic is there in the morning?"

"The school and work kind."

"Yeah, but why did your fiancé get me up at 5 a.m.? That's just TOO early. He's insane!"

Ben was now catching up with the conversation as he got into the driver's seat (Luckily,

he knows where he's going, unlike SOME people at this time). He turned around to Riley.

"Hey. It could be worse. We could be stuck in traffic for 2 hours."

This seemed to get Riley in an alert, yet thankful mood. "Let's go then!"

"I thought that make you change your mind." Ben backed out of the driveway as Riley

muttered, "You're still insane, though."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing."

"Better be nothing." He drove the car out of the sight of the house. "Or else we'll have to

pull over and drop you out here."

"Oh, no. I don't want that now, Ben!"

"That's what I thought."

----------------------------------------------------------

It had been just a few hours after we started off for Virginia, but the feeling in my stomach

kept getting worse and worse. At points so worse, that I thought I'd have to throw up. But,

lucky for me, I didn't. Still, though, it was horrible.

Ben kept his eyes on the Virginia roads ahead of him, making sure we don't run into a

stop sign. Like Riley did one time with Ben. Riley was paying NO attention, what so ever, to

the road ahead of him. By doing this, his 'baby' got off on the wrong path and...you know the

rest. Ben was so shook up about the entire thing that when he got back to the manor, he made a contract, signed it, and swore that he would NEVER let Riley drive while he was with him.

Riley was in the backseat, doing the usual on his laptop, a McDonald's bag right beside him

with his trash in it. Did I mention that if he doesn't get breakfast, he's not in a good mood?

Ben and I found that out after about 20 minutes on the road when he started complaining

about the tiniest things for no apparent reason. Then, we found out about his problem, and

we ended up at McDonald's getting him a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, a hashbrown, and

a large, caffeinated coffee just to be on the safe side.

We were about 30 minutes from our destination when right of the blues, a small, jet black car came right out in front of us, making Ben suddenly lose control of the car. I shuddered. 'Oh,

no.' I thought 'Oh, no.'

Just as we were about to crash it, the car speeded of the way, making sure it didn't interfere.

But, we were headed towards another, unalarmed car. "Ben!" I shrieked. My heart was beating

faster and faster as each horrid second went by.

However, Ben had lost control of the car, and he couldn't do anything about it. I closed and

covered my eyes, panicking for my life, and Ben's. But just as started to do that, I heard a

loud noise in front of me, spooking me. Glass breaking, the sound of the two vehicles

colliding, I couldn't stand it. It was horrid. Just horrid. That moment in time was probably one of the most horrific moments in my entire life. And it would spook me forever.

'My feeling was right.' I could feel tears roll down my eyes. 'Something horrible was going

to happen. And because of me, all of this happened. All of it.'